MONAGHAN/SF Final replay: Clontibret held out for the narrowest of victories for their first championship in five years in this thrilling replayed county final in Clones yesterday. Magheracloone pushed the issue all the way and were unlucky not to at least put the game to extra time.
Anthony Rooney dominated midfield for Clontibret and was the driving force that gave them a slight edge all through and he finished with four points to his credit, all from play. Tom Freeman was in rampant mood for Magheracloone, hitting two excellent goals, the second bringing Magheracloone to within a point a minute into injury time but Clontibret held out.
Clontibret led at half time by 0-7 to 0-6 and always had the capacity to respond to any Magheracloone initiative with crucial points that saw them always in front except for a brief period 10 minutes into the second half when Tom Freeman's first goal put Magheracloone in the lead for the only time in the game.
CLONTIBRET: M Thompson; P McGuigan, D McKenna, B McSkeane; M Corey, J P Mone, C Leonard (0-1); J Hughes, A Rooney (0-4); N Malone (0-2), V Corey (0-2), G Leonard (0-2). F Mone (0-1), M Hughes, D Mone (0-3). Subs: M Rooney (0-1), for D Mone.
MAGHERACLOONE: S Duffy (0-1); D Kindlon, P Kelly, B Freeman; E McCabe, F Jones (0-1), J McMahon; C McCaul, F Doogan; F Kindlon, P Jones, G Finnegan; P Finnegan, D Freeman (0-4), T Freeman (2-3). Subs: B Farrelly for F Jones, F Monaghan for c McCaul, J Ward for B Farrelly, P Farnan for B Freeman.
Referee: M Conlon (Castleblayney).
Clontibret ... 0-16
Magheracloone ... 2-9
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)